News Items

Dr. Benjamin Spock will be in New Zealand in a few weeks time. He will speak in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin, on unspecified anti-war topics. Dr. Spock will travel first-class, bring his wife, and speak only once every two days, at a total cost to the organisers of about three thousand dollars.

NZUSA still intends to bring out a newspaper to replace the financial disaster Focus. At Council, NZUSA approved the publication of a national magazine in folded tabloid format. This publication is to be oriented to a readership of socially and poltically active young individuals, not an NZUSA house magazine or an aloof and uninteresting commentary on New Zealand affairs.

Curious Cove Congress has been abolished. Discontent about Congress centred around the fact that it was catering for a small minority of students. It was held at a time when students were forced to give up valuable working time to attend. The purposes of Congress, which has been primarily oriented towards discussion rather than action, were also attacked. NZUSA will however hold a congress (small 'c') of some sort in 1972. "at a time, place, and cost suitable to the groups involved."

NZUSA, by a rather narrow margin, now believes in the legalisation of the use and possession of marijuana, and has called on "Government to reduce penalties for cannabis offences in the meantime.

An Overseas Speakers Fund has been set up to enable NZUSA to finance the travel of overseas speakers to this country. The committee which is to act as a selection body, will consider the relevance of any speaker to the New Zealand student body and the aims of NZUSA, the ability to arrange finance for other associations and organisations to assist in funding any tour and the ability of any speaker to speak outside the student body with effectiveness.

The status of women in New Zealand society was a topic which received heated debate. The battle between "fucking male chauvinist cunts" (Marion Logeman, Education Vice-President) and "jumped up braless birds" (a Lincoln delegate) was resolved firmly on the side of Womens Lib. A series of motions were passed under the heading "NZUSA recognises that women in New Zealand are discriminated against sexually, politically, legally, educationally and in terms of employment opportunities. Motions dealt with education, abortion, free contraceptives, equal pay and opportunity, and marriage laws.

The growing awareness amongst the student body that a group commonly known as Maoris live in New Zealand, and that this group possess a culture and a language which differ in some respects from Orthodox European, was evident at Council. Spurred on by the vociferous Nga Tamatoa observer Ted Nia, the "White liberal shits" passed a series of motions calling for action in fields of law, politics, education and social questions such as the potential worth of urban marae.

A decision was made to investigate the setting up of a domestic volunteer scheme within New Zealand, and a meeting has been called of experienced and expert people in volunteer and welfare services.

A complete list of motions passed would fill a small book and within a few weeks that small book should be available for those who are interested, in the Studass Office.